Door



F. J.-MATCHETTE.

' DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. B, 1917. 1,391, 1 33. PatentedSept. 20, 1921.

SHEETSSHEEI I.

I wuzemibor fincm e/J. Whit/7191359 F. J. MATCHETTE.

DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.8, 1917.

Patented Spt. 20,1921.

2 $HEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK J. MATGHETTE, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE SERVIDOR COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 20, 1921.

Application filed September a, 1917. Serial- No. 190,412.

- which the following is a full, clear, concise,

and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to doors and particularly to service doors.

In Patent No. 1,222,963 granted to me on April 17th, 1917, I have described in detail a service door having a rectangular parallelogrammatic cabinet adapted particularly fokr use in hotels, apartment houses and the The presentinvention is an improvement upon the structure set out and claimed in said patent, the present invention consisting in certain shaping and disposition of parts whereby highly important improvements in operation, construction and appear: ance are secured.

The general object of the invention is to improve the utility, ease of construction and operation as well as appearance of a door of this class.

Having set out the general purpose and the scope of my invention I shall now describe one particular embodiment of my invention which will illustrate to those skilled in the art howto construct and practise the same. I do not intend to be held to the form and appearance of this particular embodiment as the same may be modified but I consider that this particular embodiment is the best form of the invention known to me at present.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification-- Figure 1 is a-front elevation of the service door showing the door frame and lock and the cabinet and its lock, this elevation being taken from the room side;

Fig. 2 is. a horizontal cross-section of the door, showing the manner of connecting the parts;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a hallway-in 'which the door of my invention is increased door opening secured by my invention;

Fig. 5 is a similar plan view illustratingthe utility of my invention.

As shown in Fig. 1 the main door 1 consists of the usual top and bottom rails 2 and 3, respectively, and the lock stile 4.- and the hanging stile 5. The usual door lock 6, which is provided with knobs 7, is mounted on the locking stile 4 and is adapted to control the opening of the door.

Within the rectangular opening defined by the stiles and rails of the door frame, I place a cabinet 8 formed in the particular mannershown in Figs. 1 and 2. This cabinet comprises top and bottom frame members 10 and 9. and side frame members 11 and 12 joined together in the form of an open rectangle. The top and bottom frame members 10 and 9 are generally oval in shape, as is shown in plan in Fig. 2. The cross-section which I have illustrated is not strictly oval and might be more specifically described as barrel shaped, the two frame members 11 and 12 being substantially parallel with each other and the edges of the top and bottom frame members 9 and 10 bulging out substantially symmetrically at the center. I do not intend to be limited to" the precise shape indicated as it is obvious that a strict ellipse might be employed. This, however, would be diflicult to construct.

The sides of the cabinet are entirely covered by the doors 13 and 14 which are smoothly finished upon the outside without seams or lines and extend completely over the framemembers 9, 10, 11 and 12. It is to be understood that the frame members 10 and 9 need not be attached directly to the top and bottom rails but may be spaced away from them in order to provide a ventilating space, as is explained in my co-' pending application Serial No. 120,599, filed eptember 18th, 1916. v

The cabinet is secured to the door frame with screws, nails or by means of the molding strips 15 which are attached to the stiles and the corresponding frame members 11 and 12.

The doors 13 and 14 are locked and interlocked. in the manner set out in Patent No. 1,222,966 granted to me on April 17th, 1917, or in any other preferred manner.

I have illustrated on the inner door 14 the combined locking and signaling device 16 which is specifically described and claimed in copending application, Serial No. 190,440 filed September th, 1917.

The particular operation of the door with respect to the interlocking mechanism is substantially the same as that described in the above mentioned patent. The locking and signaling device 16 has a small window-17 back of which is a shutter adapted to be displayed or withdrawn in accordance with the conditions of operation and use.

When the servant deposits an article in the cabinet he manually sets the shutter before the display opening 17 and apprises the guest of the fact that service has beenrendered.

Thereafter when the guest opens the door to remove the article, the indicator is set in the non-indicating position b withdrawing the tar et from in front of tlie opening.

he cabinet 8 may be divided into a number of compartments by means of shelves which are secured to the side frame members 11 and 12, preferably by notches or gains In order; to properly cater to the wants and requirements of the guests, it is necessary that the cabinets should be large enough 7 to containrather bulky packages or objects, such as water pitchers, thermos bottles and other things of that'general size and shape.

The parallelogrammatic 'cabinet shown in Fig. 2 in the dotted lines 19 was designed of a size to permit such objects to be placed -within the cabinet for the guests. I have 'found, however, that when the cabinet is of this size and is secured to the stiles of the door frame, the door knob 7 will'be so close to the edges of the cabinet that the knuckles of the hands will be skinned in turning the knobs unless care is taken. To reduce the thickness of the cabinet to such a size where p the. door knob 7 could be" conveniently operated would make the cabinet useless for the purpose for which it isintended.

I have solved the difficult by maintainin the central part of the cabinet at the ful width and narrowing the edges of the cabinet alongthe hanging and lock stiles, thereby producing a cabinet with bulgin which fulfills all the requirements and gains {further striking advanta es, I have found that the curved shape of t e doors 13 and 14 increases their strength and decreases their trated or described.

sides tendency to warp so that 'less thickness and less weight is required to secure the proper results. The bowed form of the door also increases its strength against crushing pressure. A further and equally striking advantage is the improvement in appearance. As the doors 13 and 14 cover completely the sides of the cabinet, and as these doors have edges rounded as shown at 20, the appearance of thickness is greatly diminished and the appearance is vastly improved.

I have found it advisable to place cabinets of this type in doors already installed in hotels, apartment houses and the like and in such cases I have found that it is possible to install this type of cabinet where other types could not be installed. One reason for this is the fact that by the present form of cabinet, sufiicient door knob room is provided which would be impossible with the parallelogrammatic type of cabinet. The stile members 4 and 5 in room entrance doors conform to certain standard widths. These widths run between 4% and 5-1- inches.

Another advantage of this form of cabinet is that in certain places where space is limited, as for instance in the hall-ways of hotel rooms and the like, the cabinet may be installed in a standard door without materially obstructing the passageway. I have indicated certain typical situatlons in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, showing the reason for the above. As shown in Fig. 3, the oval cabinet 8 can be employed in the hallway without in any way diminishing the door-opening which would, however, be materially reduced by the parallelogrammatic cabinet, as indicated in the dotted lines.

Fig. 4 illustrates another typical condition in which the parallelogrammatic cabinet indicated in dotted lines at 22 could not be installed because it would substantially block the passageway. The oval cabinet 8, however permits far more room and hence is feasib e.

As shown in. Fig. 5 the oval cabinet 8 permits. travel into the passageway at an 7 angle indicated by the dotted line 24, while if the parallelogrammatic cabinet 22 indicated in dotted lines were employed it would be necessary to enter at an angle shown by the line 23. i

I do not intend to .be' limited to the forms, proportions and circumstances described or illustrated as the invention ma I appear in other embodiments than those have illus- What I claim is: 1. In a device of th'e class described, a door frame'comprising top and bottom rails, hanging and lock stiles 'oine'd together rigidly, a cabinet mounte -substantially. centrally .in and secured to said frame, said cabinet being relatively narrow. along the.

and bulging out symmetrically along the vertical axis to complete a substantially oval body-in cross section, said cabinet having two doors, one on each side permitting access to the inside of the cabinet, said doors being bowed to conform to the shape of the cabinet.

2. In a device of the class described, a door frame comprising top'and bottom rails, hanging and lock stiles rigidly secured together, a rectangular cabinet occupying the rectangular space between said rails and stiles, said cabinet being substantially narrower at the edges adjacent the hanging and lock stiles than it is along its vertical center line to permit maximum opening movement of the door frame, and doors on each side of the cabinet, said doors completely covering the sides of the cabinet and being curved to the shape of the cabinet.

3. In a device of the class described, a cabinet comprising top, bottom and side frame members, and doors hinged to said side members, said doors forming the entire sides of said cabinet and overlapping the frame members, said cabinet bulging out at the center substantially symmetrically on each side so as to complete a substantially oval cross section, the top and bottom frame members being curved to fit the inner surfaces of said doors.

4. In a device of the class described, a door frame comprising top and bottom rails,

' hanging and lock stiles joined rigidly together, a rectangular cabinet mounted in and secured to said door frame, said cabinet having a relatively deep medial portion projecting outward from said door frame for maximum capacity, said cabinet also having a relatively shallow portion sloping off obliquely, from said pro ecting portion. to the vertical edge of the cabinet to permit of maximum movement of the door on its hinges and provide maximum clearance in the opening- 5. The combination with a door having the usual hanging and lock stiles of a cabinet mounted in said door and extending from said hanging stile to said lock stile and projecting beyond both faces of said door,

that portion of said cabinet adjacent said hanging stile being relatively narrow to permit of maximum opening of the door and clearance through the opening, and the central portion of said cabinet being considerably wider than said first named portion to provide maximum capacitv.

6. The combination with a door having the usual hanging and lock stiles of a cabinet mounted in said door and extending from said hanging stile to said lock stile and projecting beyond both faces of said door, that portion of said cabinet adjacent said hanging stile being relatively narrow to permit a maximum opening of the door, that portion of said cabinet adjacent said lock stile being correspondingly narrow to avoid interfering with the operation of the door knob, and the central portion of said cabinet being considerably wider than said first mentioned portions to provide maximum capacity.

7. In combination, a door frame comprising top and bottom rails, hanging and lock stiles rigidly secured together, a rectangular cabinet supported by said rails and stiles, comprising top and bottom boards and side walls all joined together, said cabinet being symmetrically of greater depth from its sides toward the medial portion thereof to provide maximum capacity, the ortions of the cabinet adjacent said lock an hanging stiles being relatively small so as to provide maximum clearance in the door opening and to avoid interference with the door knob on the locking stile.

8. In combination, a standard door frame comprising top and bottom rails and hang ing and lock stiles, a cabinet having top and bottom and side portions supported b the frame, the top and bottom portions ing increasingly wider from their respective ends toward their medial portions, and doors curved to conform to the shape of the top and bottom members completely covering the top and side and bottom members to form a body substantially oval in horizontal cross section providing maximum capacity within the cablnet'and permitting maximum opening movement of the door frame.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 30th da of Au st A. D. 1917.

FRANl J. TCHETTE. 

